


The Losing Game

by thaliazzy_b



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: "there was only one bed' trope if yall are patient:D, F/F, FUCK cbs for denying us jemily, also arcade hence the title, i forgot the jets layout T-T, im a real sucker for tropes you guys, jfc i do not fw limited html, jj and emily are so gay omg, oops i forgot to say this but i hate elizabeth prentiss sm shes a witch, srsly this is totally gonna just be trope after trope, theyre seriously so in love, this isnt what i meant when i said i wanted to be garcia, while writing this i was just listening to violent over and over again lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28995651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thaliazzy_b/pseuds/thaliazzy_b
Summary: JJ hasn't ever been good with feelings. To Emily, the word is a joke. But could all that change over one case? (I actually have no idea where this is going, but its gonna be something like that. Honestly mentally unstable me is the one driving, sober me is just along for the ride)
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	1. 41,000 Feet Up

**Author's Note:**

> Omg guys tell me what you think of this, I wrote this after crying a lot at like 2 am lmao, and jeez i put so many tags. Anyways gotta love a 'eek I had a nightmare plz hug me now' trope:)) can we please please ignore the fact that i utterly and completely forgot the plot for 3x17:DD? thanks  
> !!Possible trigger warning: cuts!! If you don't want to read this go from 'However that was the least of JJ's problems' to 'JJ looked over when Emily flinched"

They were on the jet. Everyone was exhausted as they were on back to back cases and the one they just wrapped up had been long and difficult. JJ and Emily were in the back next to one another and Emily had dozed off as soon as they finished ascending. JJ took a moment to admire the woman sitting beside her. 

It was only in times like these, asleep and safely nestled in the clouds that Emily truly looked at peace. With every exhale a strand of hair that rested across her lips dusted up towards her nose before settling back down, only to softly rise up again. ever since the plane ride home from the case in Denver they had been closer with one another than anyone on the team, except for maybe Garcia. 

Growing up, especially after Roslyn, JJ had never really had any close friends. She didn’t know what it meant when her chest tightened every time Emily looked at her, she didn’t know why her stomach fluttered when Emily touched her, and she wasn’t sure why, after almost a year, she still hadn’t told Emily about Will. This next case was in his jurisdiction, and she knew that Will and the BAU would be crossing paths. She was worried that Emily, trained as she was to read behavior, would figure out that her and Will LaMontagne were on more friendly terms than detective and SSA. Sure, she had thought of telling Emily countless times, but every time a big _‘what if’_ would stop her. _‘What if she gets mad?’_ ‘What if she stops talking to me?’ and soon her thoughts would spiral so much that she would decide against telling Emily all together. What worried her the most however, is that Emily would be happy for her. Whether or not she acknowledged it, JJ hated the idea of Emily jumping for joy at the news. Logically, JJ knew that the ideal situation would be Emily saying she was happy for them, but the thought of it made her inexplicably sad. Before she could think about it any longer however, she was shaken out of her reverie by a startled movement on her left.

~~~

Emily and JJ were on the plane. They were chatting and laughing, and the look on JJ’s face made Emily’s heart soar. She allowed herself to hope for a few lovely seconds before shoving that hope back into its compartment and slamming the door. In Emily’s eyes hope was a luxury, and therefore a waste of time. She contented to bask in the warmth of the blonde's presence, half listening to her babble on about some tv show she had started. But then something changed. She felt something cold on her wrist, and when she looked down she saw a thick iron handcuff. She could feel that her other wrist was encased too, but her eyes were moving very slowly. She finally managed to look back to JJ, and choked down a scream at what she saw. 

JJ was strung up from the ceiling, hoisted into the air by her wrists. Her toes were just barely touching the ground, and from the way she hung limply she had probably been hanging for several hours. However, that was the least of JJ’s problems. All she was wearing was a ripped up t-shirt and a pair of underwear. Due to the position of her arms, the shirt only went to the top of her rib cage, where the carnage began. **TW!!** Her stomach and sides were lacerated with a variety of cuts, deep slashes and stab wounds, except for a small patch on her navel. She was also covered in burn marks and a plethora of bruises on her torso, arms and legs. 

Emily tried to reach her, but she was too tightly restrained. Finally managing to look to both sides, Emily realized that she was chained in between two vertical pipes, the manacles on her wrist pulling so hard they were cutting into her skin. She tried to free herself for a second longer before realizing that it was fruitless. In desperation, she began to sob, looking at JJ for any sign that she was still alive. 

To her immense relief, she saw JJ twitch, but began to scream when she saw a long gash carve its way into the empty space on JJs stomach. “JJ!! JENNIFER!!” Emily yelled over and over, but she didn’t, or couldn’t respond. The gashes continued for what felt like forever, but then they stopped. When Emily looked carefully at them however, she began to cry even harder. “YOUR FAULT” they spelled out, red with JJs blood. “ **YOUR FAULT. YOUR FAULT. YOUR FAULT.** ” 

A deep chuckle filled the room, and Emily looked around wildly, but there was no one there except for her and JJ, bleeding out in front of her eyes. Soon the laughter faded, replaced by warm words spoken by a different person, along with an unspoken sense of safety. The words got louder and louder, and then Emily's eyes snapped open. **end TW**

~~~

JJ looked over when Emily flinched, and saw that she was still asleep. Emily began to whimper quietly, tears spilling from her eyes. JJ didn’t know what to do, but she instinctively knew that something was wrong. Emily never cried, _never_. 

All of a sudden, Emily screamed. It wasn’t very loud, but everyone on the plane jumped up immediately, expecting the worst. How could they not, when they were surrounded by the worst of humanity every day?

“What happened?” Hotch said, peering over his seat to look at JJ. She was sitting there, hovering over Emily, but hesitating to touch her even as Emily continued to cry, every so often punctuating her tears with another shout.

“I- I don’t know Hotch! She just started to cry! And I mean- should I wake her up?” JJ said frantically, her hands moving to Emily's shoulders.

“No don’t!” Reid cried, “she's most likely experiencing a parasomnia, a- a night terror of sorts! Waking someone up while they’re so disconnected can be dangerous and disorienting for the person experiencing it. You know, it's interesting that Emily is having one, approximately only 2% of adults-”

“Ok Spence, but what do I DO? I have to _help_ her! She's scared!” JJ cut in, still holding onto Emily's shoulders. She hated to see her friend look so terrified, so helpless.

“JJ! JJ! JENNIFER!!” Emily screamed, significantly louder, and JJ flinched. She never, _ever_ wanted to be the cause of Emily's pain. JJ felt her own eyes prick with tears at the sight of Emily sobbing in front of her.

“Try and comfort her. You know, um, talk to her, be calm and quiet, and just be there for her. The rest of us should probably give you some space, extra stimuli can be detrimental when she wakes up” Reid explained quickly. 

JJ nodded in return, eyes never leaving Emily. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched everyone else settle back into their seats. JJ carefully put one arm around Emily's waist, and the other one gently turned her in the seat so that JJ could pull her close. Her hand then began stroking Emily’s soft brown hair, pushing her bangs away from her face. She put her head on Emily’s shoulder and began to softly talk into her ear.

“Hi Em, I need you to come back to me. I know that you’re scared, but I’m right here, I’m ok. You’re ok, you’re safe with me.” JJ began, relief flooding through her when the sobs wracking Emily’s body began to subside. “Ok good, we’re ok, I got you Em. You’re gonna be just fine.” She pulled back to cradle Emily’s face in her palm, and ghosted her lips over the brunette’s temple. She gently pushed away some of the tears still leaking from the corners of Emily’s eyes, and realized that there were tears running down her face too.

All of a sudden, Emily's eyes shot open. “JJ?” She croaked, heart racing.

JJ gasped, “I’m right here Emily!”

Tears began gushing down Emily’s face anew as she took in the sight of Jennifer Jareau sitting in front of her unharmed, if a little teary. Noting that JJ’s arm was still around her, she burrowed into the blondes embrace, craving the physical affirmation that JJ wasn’t hanging from the ceiling and bleeding out.

“They- they had you! They hurt you and it was because of- it was all my fault!” Emily gasped out, struggling to push away the images of JJ that kept cropping up in her mind. She snaked her arms around JJ to clutch at her back, reassuring herself that JJ was ok.

JJ’s heart nearly broke when she heard Emily speak, she sounded so scared. For a while longer they just sat there, holding onto one another, before someone else on the jet coughed. It was quiet, but when Emily heard it she pulled back rather abruptly, shooting down the part of her that wanted to stay exactly where she was, holding onto the younger woman forever. JJ felt a pang of something in her chest when Emily pulled away, but she decided to ignore it.

Emily stood up and made her way to the small bathroom on the jet, realizing that she probably looked terrible. Once she got the door shut, she allowed herself a small smile. JJ had been acting a little different for almost six months now, and Emily if had to guess, it had something to do with her not-so-secret weekend travels. She had hesitated to ask Garcia where JJ was going yet, because she was afraid she already knew the answer. After all, Detective LaMontagne hadn’t exactly been subtle during their last visit. But no matter what, Emily knew that she would never forget the feeling of being completely safe in JJ’s arms, wrapped up in her warm scent of vanilla and cinnamon.

Looking into the mirror above the small sink, she was met with quite a sight. Her bangs were all over the place, plastered to her forehead in some places, and her eyes were red from crying. She was also blushing. _‘Because of the crying’_ she scolded herself, because it definitely wasn’t the lingering memory of soft blue eyes only inches from hers. She fixed her hair, splashed some water in her face and mentally prepared herself to face the rest of the team. Emily could hear her mother’s voice ringing in her ears, _‘Prentisses don’t cry Emily, it shows weakness.’_

She opened the door and was met with JJ, hand poised like she was about to knock before the door opened. “Are you ok Emily?” JJ said concernedly, deftly raising her hand and putting it on the startled woman's arm.

“Yes, I’m fine. I probably didn’t get enough sleep, what with the case and all,” Emily replied rather briskly. She slipped past the worried blonde and turned to address the rest of the team. “Sorry for all the commotion everyone, hope I didn’t disrupt anyones beauty sleep,” she grinned, forcing it to reach her eyes. “Have we debriefed on the case yet?”

“No not yet, I figured we all needed to rest for a short time,” Hotch replied, looking at the files spread on the table in front of him. “Let's get started.” He opened the laptop and with a few clicks Garcia appeared on the screen. “Hello my crime fighting superheroes, settle in because this one’s a doozy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know if you liked this chapter<3 kudos and comments are appreciated:)  
> (•◡•)  
> >♥️ luv yu


	2. Car Rides and Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily is a distracted driver:) and I do not like Will mountain man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will lemonhead slander is *chefs kiss* literally how do you spell his name I didn't feel like looking it up so I just winged it.  
> (edit:lol idk what the heck happened but I had to repost this chapter. 2nd edit: Holy zonkas that was confusing but I think I fixed it)

Once they landed at the New Orleans International Airport and got their government issued SUV’s, the BAU began weaving their way through a confusing maze of roads to the French Quarter’s precinct. They had split between the two cars, with Hotch, Rossi and Morgan in one and Emily, JJ and Reid in the other. Emily was beginning to regret her decision to drive, as she kept looking over to JJ and then having to swerve to avoid a pothole or poorly parked car. _‘Focus Prentiss’_ she thought to herself, _‘driving in New Orleans is even more dangerous than DC.’_ Not two minutes later though, she found herself looking over again, and was shocked to meet JJ’s blue eyes with her own.

JJ had been looking at Emily for nearly a minute, admiring the focused look on her face, but still slightly worried after what had happened on the jet. She felt like there was something Emily wasn’t telling her, and was immediately hit with a pang of guilt. After all, she was keeping something from her friend too. All of a sudden, Emily’s head swiveled around to look at her, and their eye contact immediately reminded JJ of those moments on the plane. She blushed, and a goofy grin spread across her face before she could stop it. Emily smiled back unconsciously, but then she flicked her eyes to the road quickly. She had to slam on the brakes to prevent the car from plowing through a stop sign.

Instinctively, she stuck her hand out to brace her passenger, planting her hand firmly on JJ’s abdomen. Due to Emily’s fast reaction time, she didn’t have to stop as quickly as she thought and soon the car had slowed to a complete standstill, but she still didn’t move her hand. After a couple seconds, JJ gently laughed, “I’m ok Emily, I was not in danger of flying through the windshield.”

“Right, sorry,” Emily laughed weakly, silently begging her hand to move. Her heart started beating faster when JJ took her own hand and placed it over Emily’s. JJ linked their hands and moved them over to the flustered woman's knee, where she softly deposited Emily’s hand. “We gotta get to the precinct at 3:00, remember silly?” she joked, patting the brunette on the shoulder.

“Ok, yes. Driving.” Emily mumbled, still a little dazed, and pulled into the intersection and continued driving towards the police precinct. _‘Shit.’_

~~~

Everyone assembled in the parking lot at 3:20 because, surprisingly, Hotch had gotten lost. As Morgan introduced himself to the person in charge of the case, Detective Lopez, JJ introduced the rest of the team. Emily was distracted, trying to figure out why exactly serial killers felt the need to live in places this hot. It was pushing 90 degrees, and she missed the cool AC of the car. It didn’t help that all else she could seem to think about was JJ holding her hand, JJ smiling at her, JJ. However, when she saw a familiar and not entirely welcome face, she spoke up. “Hey, isn’t that-” she started, before Detective Lopez explained that a cop had been killed and Detective LaMontagne was joining them to I.D. the body.

Emily felt her stomach sink. She was 90% sure that JJ and the New Orleans detective had been seeing one another, but she was holding out hope that their interaction would disprove this theory. She watched very carefully as JJ shook the man’s hand, and listened to their exchange. She noted two things of importance, one being that Will LaMontagne was very eager to speak with JJ and was looking at her like a stupid little puppy. This made Emily feel rather queasy and she tried not to dwell on it. But the second thing was an altogether different story. When Detective Lopez asked the pair if they knew each other, JJ tacked on “professionally”. Emily watched with vindictive pleasure as LaMontagne’s face fell. Her final analysis, however upsetting, was that they were in fact seeing each other. But she kept wondering what JJ had meant when she subtly denied their relationship. Any profiler could see that they were more than just colleagues.

~~~

As the case progressed, JJ found it way more difficult to avoid Will. He had made it clear that he was unhappy, but for some reason she couldn’t care as much as she knew she should. After pulling her aside on the stairs at the coroner, they hadn’t spoken to one another at all. JJ managed this mostly by gluing herself to Emily’s side. Emily was going to the latest dump site? So was JJ. Emily was picking up some reports from the M.E.’s office? Not without JJ she wasn’t! But after a day went by without much happening in the case, they mostly just sat together at the conference table, talking in circles.

Emily was re-evaluating the profile for the umpteenth time, but JJ was lost in her thoughts. The whole team had been working hard on this case because they knew it was only a matter of time before the next victim turned up dead. This meant that JJ didn’t have time to think about Will too much. But despite the issues in her “relationship”, she was using this time to think about what had transpired in the past few days with Emily. 

First on the jet. Thinking back, that was the first time JJ had ever seen Emily really cry in her whole life. Emily Prentiss was rather infamous for being almost as stoic as Hotch, yet the idea of JJ being hurt had scared her beyond rationality. And in turn, comforting Emily felt like the most natural thing in the world. They fit together better than JJ had expected, and the sight of big brown eyes framed by thick lashes had become a recurring theme in JJ’s exceedingly obtrusive thoughts.

Then later that same day Emily had pressed her hand firmly against JJ and it had sent electricity coursing through her entire body. JJ remembered that her heart had skipped a beat, before picking up twice as fast as before. Before she could regain control of her thoughts, JJ began imagining that hand moving elsewhere, up, or down… and she immediately lit up like a christmas tree. _‘Emily is your friend JJ, pull yourself together,’_ she thought to herself, before becoming aware that someone was calling her name.

“JJ?” Prentiss repeated again. “Did you hear me?”

“Huh? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” JJ admitted sheepishly, furiously blushing for some reason.

“No problem, I wasn’t making any progress anyway,” Emily sighed, resting her head on the cool table. She gave JJ a small smile from underneath a curtain of black hair. “You should try this, it helps with the heat for about a half-second,” Emily groaned, wondering how it felt so hot, even inside.

JJ, still blushing, smiled before standing up and walking to the other side of the room to grab them two waters from the minifridge. After a minute she managed to fight off the blush and she walked back to the conference table with the water bottles.

“For you, m’lady,” she grinned at Emily, presenting the water bottle with a flourish.

“Oh thank you, you read my mind,” Emily replied, lifting her head from the table.

“I don’t understand how it can be this dry when it's this humid,” JJ complained after sipping some of her water.

“It’s cuz you sweat all your fluids out outside and then come into bone-dry air conditioning, that barely works, might I add,” Emily huffed, chugging some of her water.

“Well then, if I could just hook this up to an IV,” JJ joked, eliciting a chuckle from Emily.

Emily had actually just spotted Detective LaMontagne across the bull-pen. She hadn’t been able to glean anything else about the man's relationship with JJ, and she was beginning to wonder if she should just ask. But she mentally cringed at the idea. She couldn’t imagine what she would do if she was wrong, or even worse, if she was right. After thinking for a second, Emily decided to be as subtle as she could, but she needed answers.

“At least we have something fun to look at, keep us on our toes,” Emily said quietly, hoping her jealousy wasn’t too tangible.

“What do you mean?” JJ asked. She was honestly a little thrown off by the sudden subject change.

“LaMontagne,” Emily replied, nodding her head in his direction.

“You think so, huh?” JJ said, keeping her eyes locked on Emily’s. Something about the way she was saying things made her sound almost jealous, but why on earth would Emily be jealous of Will?

Emily laughed, “don’t you?” _‘Please don’t, please don’t,'_ she thought to herself.

JJ finally looked over her shoulder to look at the detective. He was reading some file, and he looked stressed out. JJ felt guilty for avoiding him for so long, but she didn’t know what to say to him. “Yeah, I guess he’s, I mean, he has a thing,” she muttered after a second.

“Definitely a thing…” Emily trailed off.

Suddenly feeling very bold, JJ looked back to Emily, making eye contact with the brunette. “I honestly prefer brown hair,” and she couldn’t stop the heat from reaching her cheeks again.

Emily looked a little taken aback before immediately responding, “I always liked blondes myself.” She smiled slightly at the expression on JJ’s face.

JJ’s jaw had gone slack for a second at Emily’s response. To busy herself, JJ took an enormous sip of water, sure that she was being dumb, and Emily didn’t mean her, just blondes in general. She berated herself for even thinking of a coworker in such a way, and decided then and there that she was going to tell Emily about Will.

“Look Emily, I need to tell you something. I’m kind of-” Hotch cut JJ off from across the room before she could finish.

“Prentiss and JJ, we’re delivering the profile!” He half-shouted over the bustle of the precinct.

JJ moved to get up, but Emily grabbed her arm. “I know. But I also want you to know that you don’t seem very happy. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I want you to be happy.” Emily smiled and walked away, leaving JJ with even more to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> Lemme know if you liked this chapter<3 kudos and comments are appreciated:)  
> (•◡•)  
> >♥️ luv yu


End file.
